I have a simple question for you. Does your business or product exist? Does it have a mobile website? No? Then it doesn’t exist.

If you have a website that’s fair enough, but having a mobile website makes it better. As the use of smartphones and other mobile devices continue to increase, the need for businesses to establish a presence in mobile is becoming more than just a fad. Having a mobile website isn’t a mere decoration, it’s now a requisite. Potential customers are accessing the Web using their smartphones rather than their PCs. Why? We now live in a world of “instant” where users want to purchase a product or locate a business’ physical store by just a pushing a button. And that button is on your smartphone, on every B2C company’s smartphone, and on every potential customer’s smartphone.

But how do you push the buttons of potential customers? You’d like to increase ROI then you have to engage with customers but you have to reach them first. Sure you have thousands of followers on your Twitter account and an impressive number of fans on Facebook but showing off those figures are passe already. This year should be putting more premium on content to feed your customers and those customers are mobile users! And while Facebook is a marketplace of sorts, mobile is becoming a destination-location for businesses and consumers as well. Want proof? ComScore’s recent market share report showed that both Android and iPhone handsets are gaining share points. Thanks to the “Android fragmentation“, Android smartphones cover 47% of the US smartphone market.

But the most interesting forecast is from Gartner which predicted that by 2014, almost 3 billion of the world’s adult population will transact via mobile or any online method. The tremendous rise in Internet and mobile adoption will pave way for more advances in mobile payment and e-commerce. So whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a barista who owns a cafe downtown, the idea of creating mobile websites is actually a big favor for customers to reach out to them. Here are some simple tips on how to create your mobile website:

Get Acquainted with Mobile Sites

Google has launched the GoMo initiative last year which aims to teach local businesses how mobile websites work and improve their ROI by gaining mileage with mobile marketing. The GoMo initiative also shows how a website will appear on a smartphone or any mobile device. Here’s a video from Google about GoMo.

Think Like a User

Keep in mind that your mobile website is for your customers. So put yourself in the user’s shoes and find out what a customer wants to see on their phones. Consider simple yet big buttons for users to notice. Keep URLs short as possible. Your website may appear smooth on an iPhone and not on an Android smartphone, so it’s best to hire an experienced mobile site developer to cover all mobile OS.

Keep It Simple

Like any other website, a mobile website should sport a clean and crisp look to entice a user. Making the landing page simple yet direct makes it user-friendly for a user to navigate the site via mobile. Consider featuring key products and relevant content in order to make the user experience more worthwhile.

Add a Dash of Social

Place those social thumbnails that will lead a customer to your Facebook page or Twitter feed. Making social media icons appear on the landing page suggests that your business is reachable across social media platforms.